Palo Alto Weekly

Around town

PALO ALTO: ELECTRIC STAR ... Palo Alto is a city that likes to be a leader, or at least, say that it's a leader when it comes to all things green. It marked another notch on its sustainability belt Monday with a small, ribbon-cutting gathering at Mollie Stone's grocery store on California Avenue. An electric-car charging station, which has actually been there for months, was officially unveiled in the gourmet market's parking lot. As a smattering of attendees jostled to be ever-closer to the tent, from which speakers touted the charging station, and ever-further from the cars that were backing out of parking spaces just feet from where they huddled, one speaker gave Palo Alto electric-vehicle accolades. Mike DiNucci, vice president of sales for ChargePoint, the maker of the Mollie Stone's charger, said that based on numbers Chargepoint independently collected, California is No. 1 in the number of electric vehicles on the road. No surprise there. He went on to say, however, that if Palo Alto were a state it would be No. 5 in electric vehicles. That's good news for Palo Alto's green pride, surely. DiNucci went on to say that Mollie Stone's, which is offering the first hour of charging free, might get some financial green for its support of green cars. "Data shows that when a retailer has the vision to put charging station for guests and customers, then they might stay longer and take an extra trip down the aisle," he said.

COSTUME KICKBACKS ... As Halloween approaches and some parents get the jitters about throwing down the bucks to dress their children as generic ghouls, the nonprofit Blossom Birth is offering a novel solution. The educational nonprofit is letting parents drop off costumes in good condition until Sept. 27 so that they can be swapped for a new one — a recycling event that promises to make the holiday easier on the wallet and the environment. And for a holiday for which a third of the kids are Hannah Montana and half are Dracula, it's just far out enough to work (though the attraction of Hannah Montana may have waned in recent weeks, thanks to its star). Interested parents can drop by the pre-Halloween pickup event at Lucie Stern Community Center on Oct. 4, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., or follow this link to find out where to drop off costumes: http://tinyurl.com/pd63fwq.

ATTENTION, ATTENTION ... A public-service announcement about cutting-edge methods for fighting crime deserves cutting-edge production value, right? Well, maybe. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen this week released a public-service announcement called "The Epidemic of iCrime" that gets points for its message. It advises smartphone owners to use tracking apps so their phones can be found if stolen (but advises against trying to recover stolen phones personally), note the serial numbers of electronic devices to aid in their recovery and enable the GPS-tracking feature on devices. As for the sleepy production value, it could've used some 21st-century iUpdating, with theme music more reminiscent of 1980s Vangelis than the "Bourne Supremacy." Follow this link to see the video: http://tinyurl.com/pb7y525.

ALWAYS DESIGNATE A TWEETER ... It's not too often that drivers dodge a traffic ticket before ever getting one, but that was the case in Palo Alto Thursday for Twitter-savvy drivers. In a effort to bring attention to its newly reinstated motorcycle traffic cops, a Palo Alto police DT (designated tweeter) followed Sgt. Ken Kratt around Palo Alto, disclosing his whereabouts and what types of infractions he would be looking for. Followers of the event learned a lot more than just how to avoid a traffic cop, though. Also tweeted was a picture of the motorcycle mount for Kratt's intimidating AR-15 assault rifle, details on the rigorous training required for being a motorcycle cop, and information on how much time traffic cops end up spending in court to defend traffic tickets (a lot). The high point of the nine-hour event was a toss-up between the DT having to break off to chase down a speeder and the DT revealing his best speeding excuse: "'I just came from a Chocaholics Anonymous meeting. I'm wired on chocolate.' It worked." Check out how the ride went on Twitter at #PAPDvra.

This story contains 732 words.

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Posted by Not an issue, a resident of Community Center
on Sep 27, 2013 at 8:57 pm

The pice, Palo Alto Electric Star is hysterical.

"Palo Alto is a city that likes to be a leader, or at least, say that it's a leader when it comes to all things green."
I guess since the weekly acts as cheerleader for te city and it's misguided efforts one should not be surprised that they wrote this article instead of questioning why the city is making a big deal about this.

" It marked another notch on its sustainability belt Monday"
Cute.

" As a smattering of attendees jostled to be ever-closer to the tent, "
Really? The attendees were jostling? Any punches thrown?

"Data shows that when a retailer has the vision to put charging station for guests and customers, then they might stay longer and take an extra trip down the aisle,"
Would love to see the actual data for this.

Posted by Anonymous, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Sep 28, 2013 at 8:03 am

The City of Palo Alto planning and code inspection department hasn't gotten the message about being "green." They only give the "red" light to "green" projects.

Posted by Not laughing, a resident of Old Palo Alto
on Sep 28, 2013 at 12:46 pm